Food for Thought

Ahh, yes. The stress of finals has settled in on everyone. Late nights, Redbull and moral support will get you through it!

To help alleviate some of this stress, here are some things to remember!

SURVIVAL GUIDE: FINALS WEEK EDITION

1. Water is your friend. Yes, Redbull may make you bug-eyed until 4 AM, but your body cannot function on sugar and caffeine alone!

2. Schedule out your study sessions and take breaks! Do not cram for one subject ALL DAY LONG. Break it up, keep yourself interested.

3. Make your flashcards or study guides colorful. Come up with whacky ways to remember things!

4. Eat properly. Please do not live off a box of cheez-its for the week. I know we may feel too tired to make a substantial meal, but at least throw in some basic fruits and veggies.

5. Sleep is NOT for the weak! Sleep is a period of restoration for your body that is either weary from studying or procrastinating. If possible, take a 20 minute nap in-between each study session. I promise that you will think more clearly and feel re-energized.

6. No class, GPA or teacher can define you. We all excel at different things. YOU ARE LOVED.

As my week of finals dwindles down I realize just how quickly the semester has gone by. It feels like just yesterday I was complaining about how we didn’t have a syllabus week!

Coffee after coffee and practically an IV of Red Bull (gave me wings) and got me through this week, which reminds me what going home is for. It’s time for a detox. Not just a detox from unhealthy junk foods and caffeine, but a soul detox. Time to breathe deeper and slow down.

My absolute favorite part about winter is the snow- cliché. But the best part about snow for me is how quiet the outside world suddenly becomes. A blanket of pure, white snow calms the world and everything is still for once. To be able to stand outside, surrounded by white, and breathe in the crisp winter air is my dream kind of day.

Don’t forget to get caught up in your favorite book by the fire or watch every Downton Abbey episode you can with hot cocoa. It’s time to spend more time in the kitchen with family- cooking and trying new things. Make those cookies or rum cakes and take them around to friends and family.

Winter is my absolute favorite time of the year. We have so much to be thankful for and it’s easy to get caught up in the whirl of red and green, parties and presents but don’t forget to breathe in the crisp air and the warm smiles of the people around you.

With snow comes an inner and outer peace that is truly irreplaceable.

(And then there are those not so pleasant days with ice…. But that’s a different story.)

Love. Everyone wants it, but we all look in the wrong places. Self love is one of the most important things in this world and is something everyone should constantly work on; however, appreciating the love that is already around you is just as important and can make you love yourself even more.

Every year on my birthday, when the cake comes out and my friends/family around me are singing, I start to cry. EVERY TIME! After further pondering this weird habit, I realized that I cry because other people’s love and care for me was hard to take in! Think about it: a whole room of smiling people who want to be with you on your special day to show how much they care? That’s incredible. It was especially incredible to me on my 10th birthday. Fellow cast members of a musical I was in sang me “Happy Birthday” and all I could do was cry my eyes out. Love is sometimes overwhelming– so much so that it is difficult for me to absorb it… hence the tears. (If you know me well, I can be incredibly emotional). But these tears are tears of appreciation and joy. To know that someone cares for you and shows that through little things like offering to pay for your Starbucks when you are having a rough day, or someone who just sits and listens to your worries- Some of you may never know how appreciative I am of those things and because I keep those feelings bottled up until my birthday…well, Niagara falls appears in my tear ducts.

What I want you to take from this though is that everyone is loved by someone. Somehow, someway, somewhere! And what us more reserved people need to do is appreciate that love every day so you won’t embarrass yourself year after year as you’re blowing out your candles.

Actually.. I don’t! This weekend was by far one of the best weekends in Oxford I have ever had. My two best friends that go to the University of Kentucky were in town and my other friend had boys from LSU in town! Turns out, this group was made for each other. Friday night was an absolute blast. We went to the square and payed those $15 bar covers and probably spent too much money but I had so much fun meeting new people. Turns out that LSU fans really don’t smell like corn dogs and that they are actually just here to have a good time! Though their kind of a good time was a little bit more rowdy than I usually get, I was able to keep up.

Is that your cooler? Haha… nope. Upon still being awake come 4 AM we decided it would be a good idea to leave some tiger markings around the neighborhood. In fact, we so kindly repainted someone’s cooler for them with some LSU sayings. (oopsie)

Now about that game.. did I watch the game? Yes! Did I watch the entire game? Not exactly.. Upon getting 5 hours of sleep, groving and then walking the 4 mile walk home, I was exhausted. So even though I fought to keep my eyelids open on the couch at home, I began to snore! Soon after a good 40 minutes elapsed I was woken up by, “WE BEAT LSU!!!!!” With a jolt, I woke up but didn’t believe my roommate. I kinda laughed it off and was like yeah okay. To my surprise, Ole Miss had done exactly that. Even with a ton of injured players, we had won.

Soooo after that there were many more celebrations, another late night and more random people crashing at my house but I will never forget this weekend for as long as I live. Though football creates rivals I met so many LSU fans that were kind and truly appreciative of our hospitality. So much so that they offered for us to visit them sometime in hopes that they could return the favor! So love your football team but don’t let rivalry put walls between you and fans of the opposing team..you’d be surprised to find that they aren’t as bad as you think! (unless they’re Bama).

Everyone talks about deactivating their facebook like it’s the new hip thing to do but no one actually does it. I’ve mauled it over and over again in my head about how nice it would be to not have facebook, or any kind of social media, constantly buzzing at me or making me feel inadequate but never decided to do something about it until tonight. My facebook account has been officially “deactivated”.

Lately I have found myself struggling to stay off the addicting site when I know I should be focusing more on academics or MY OWN LIFE. This and other things led me to finally jump off the cliff and become “unplugged”. (temporarily, that is.) On facebook we so often obsess over other people and their lives. Some of us are even jealous of other’s awesome photos! Let’s be honest though.. it takes ONE person with a picture in Europe to make you feel like your life is crap. I’m here to tell you that you’re life isn’t crap and that the people you are jealous of have off days too!! Not everyone’s life is perfect, but facebook has allowed us to edit things down to the t of who can see what photos and posts of you. Sooo in reality, even though you totally had closed eyes in that one picture or had spilled a drink on your shirt, NO ONE HAS TO KNOW! After all, your life on facebook can be as “perfect” as you want it to be. But this isn’t right. Our generation isn’t living life in the now and certainly aren’t making the kind of connections people used to. My whole world is on facebook. Even my parents and grandparents are on facebook, but that doesn’t mean it has to be my world.

So I’ve started tonight to see how I can improve relationships, myself and my overall happiness without facebook. If you’re daring enough, you should try it too.

Hotty Toddy Y’all!! What a great way to kick off this school year with TWO wins!

Though the grove was nothing but HOT this weekend, I was still happy to be at a home game. There is nothing quite like Oxford on game day!

Early Friday morning, the grove gets sprinkled with little red and blue trashcans.. it’s basically like christmas! And the excitement of holding your spot in the grove all afternoon and watching those poor boys run with tents all makes it worth the while. For on game day, while decked out to the nines in nothing less than designer apparel, the chandeliers are hung, everyone wears their smile and the smell of southern food lingers. There is nothing better than an SEC school on game day.

Looking forward to many more SEC games and watching the rebels play hard!

The Walk of Champions at University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Currently, it is 86 degrees on the 2nd and 3rd floors of my house. AKA everyone is dying. The air conditioning went out yesterday at some point while everyone was at work. Unfortunately, the guy couldn’t make it out to “fix” it until today. Last night was Le Miserables part 2. I had windows open, 2 fans going and even wet towels on my body. Nothing was working. #thestruggleisreal

Sooo the fix it man arrived late in the afternoon today and was not happy to be there. (Assuming he was supposed to have been off work at 5). He tore apart the upstairs bathroom ceiling to leave because he couldn’t fix it. He will apparently be back on Saturday morning(ish) with a new motor which will prevent this from happening.

Charleston-2 Roommates-0

In an attempt to stay cool, everyone has moved downstairs. It is a beautiful 71 degrees down here. Blow up mattresses have taken over our empty dining room and I am on the couch trying to get some sleep.. clearly it’s going well. But in a funny way, we are having a sleepover. Well hope all of you readers are enjoying yourselves from a nice air conditioned place… if we’re close, invite me to a sleepover. (ppllleeeaaaaassseeeeee).

“We want more, we want more”. This popular phrase off an AT&T commercial is starting to be something that I am hearing a lot… in relationships, with friends and at work. If we are constantly wanting more we are never going to know the true value of what we have!

Wanting more comes from the massive amount of consumerism which our country and culture thrives off. The trouble is that we are losing things that are of actual value. Handwritten letters, a strong in person relationship and even traditions. With everything needing to be bigger and better we may never learn things of true lasting importance.

Stop wanting more and start looking around you. Everything you need is right under your nose.

Who was there when you got in a wreck? Or came home late and didn’t tell Dad?

How about the time when she took you out of school early when you were having a bad day?

Or when she sang out in the car with you to Shania Twain??

My mother did all of those things and more. Today is her birthday and I am sadly not able to be with her. She has taught me so much through purposeful lessons and by accident. I can only hope that I live up to be everything she’s put into me and more and that I can someday share that with my future children.

My mom has gone through a lot. Let’s see… oh yeah, she raised me.

I wasn’t a bad child per say, I was just a super emotional teen. Through my highs and lows, she was right there beside me. When I hurt, she hurt. Now being busy at college and away from her everyday comfort, it’s amazing how much of her time she put into making me happy. She’s still trying to make sure that I am always happy… Somehow she can comfort me and more through just a phone call. That takes talent.

Did I mention that she is beautiful? Inside and out? My mom has struggled with psoriasis for a good while and has had to cover her body for some time… it wasn’t until about two years ago that she found a medicine that worked. Now she’s feeling beautiful from the outside again. What she didn’t know was that during that difficult time where she didn’t feel pretty, she was radiating a deeper beauty than any other woman could ever attain. She pulled deep and didn’t care what others thought. That to me has been the biggest life lesson that she wasn’t even trying to teach.

Anyways, I love her and wish I could be there today to celebrate but I know she’s throwing it down somewhere. 🙂

If you haven’t already today, tell your mothers that you love them… they deserve it.

Yes, it’s supposed to be Mondays. But today is the perfect rainy afternoon here in Charleston.

This is the perfect time to pour yourself a cup of hot tea and snuggle up on the couch with a book or Netflix!

This is also a great time for reflection. Take deeper breaths, write a handwritten letter to someone and slow your world down.

Personally, I’ve always found the rain to be romantic. It slows your world and eases your mind.

I love rainy days because it gives me time to be like a little kid again and jump into puddles, show off new rain boots and twirl the umbrella like it’s not even raining. 🙂

This is also a great time to pull out Faith Hill’s song Red Umbrella and dance around your house. I have a rainy day soundtrack filled with calming Jack Johnson and many other songs about rain. You’d be surprised with how many songs you can find that discuss rain.

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About MSB

Welcome to Modern Southern Belle! I'm Dunn, a twenty-something college student and these are my posts about my favorite things! These include make-up, recipes, dinner party tips and more. So take off your shoes and stay a while! Maybe even subscribe? :)
-EDL

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